The South African Institute for Professional Accountants (SAIPA) is urging the government to fast-track plans to consider establishing a tax ombudsman.
"This follows recent confirmation in Parliament by the Minister of Finance that it's looking into the possibility of establishing such an office," SAIPA said in a statement on Thursday.
Earlier this year, the institute, together with other professional bodies and organisations, submitted comments on the draft Tax Administration Bill to establish a tax ombud office tasked with keeping an eye on the decisions of the SA Revenue Service (SARS) and taxpayer administration.
"As SAIPA, we regard this decision as an endorsement of one of our most important roles: to represent the interests of our professional accountant members and their clients."
SAIPA's tax technical sub-committee chairman Ettiene Retief said there was currently no effective recourse, other than the courts, for people who wished to contest SARS administrative actions.
"SARS' service monitoring office (SSMO) does handle customer complaints, but these are dealt with from the perspective of helping SARS to meet its service charter obligations."
What this meant was that the SSMO was useful in escalating outstanding matters that required SARS' attention, Retief said.
"However, it doesn't concern itself with the merits of your case, but rather with whether or not your complaint is receiving SARS' attention."
While the SSMO had been a valuable resource, it still had limited scope of application.
According to Retief, there was a need for a independent body that people could appeal to if they felt they had been treated unfairly by SARS, especially since many could not afford to go the legal route.
"This is not to detract from the current objection and appeal procedures against an assessment that the taxpayer believes is incorrect."
Retief said the ombud function would deal with matters outside the jurisdiction of the SSMO office which, although operating independently to some extent, nevertheless remained a SARS function.
How soon South Africa might get a tax ombud was not clear, although Retief said "an enormous amount of work" would have to go into setting it up even once the go ahead was given.
"There is much to consider: everything from how much authority the office would have, to funding and how it functions on a day to day basis."
The important first step of accepting the call for a tax ombud was a crucial one.
"It's also a win for democracy and an endorsement of the hard work of those at stakeholder level who've campaigned for this office to be established," Retief said. - Sapa